IELTS Research Reports

Learning to play the ‘classroom tennis’ well:IELTS and international students in teacher educationOur academic interviewees identified as issues:■■■■■■■■■■■■functional Englishthe technical language of the disciplineacademic Englishthe spoken and written language demands of the profession in generalthe everyday language of the pupils in school classroomsthe ability to be able to transform subject knowledge into language that is understandableby their pupils.In terms of coping with the academic demands of the course itself, Woodrow’s (2006) work suggestsa minimum IELTS score of 7 might be useful for courses in teacher education. This reflects studieswhich show that it is at lower levels of performance on the IELTS that English proficiency influencesacademic performance (e.g. Elder, 1993b; Woodrow, 2006). However, given that communicativecompetence is a core issue within the teacher education course itself, the issue of language testingfor students is not just one of entry-level (‘Do they have an IELTS score that suggests they can copewith the academic language demands of the course?’). The course which these students undergoitself focuses on language demands in teaching – providing clear explanations, for example, as partof pedagogy. The issue is, then, above all, a question of exit-level competence (‘Do they have a levelof ease with the language that allows them to meet the demands of teaching? Can they use a range oflanguage strategies to enhance pedagogy?’).Hence, language growth during the course itself may be a more central issue here than it is in someother professional areas. This suggests that if LBOTE students are to be allowed access to shortercourses (such as one-year Diplomas), then their entry level IELTS score should be at the level requiredby the relevant teacher registration authority. Though IELTS – or any language test - is not meant tobe a predictor of academic success, since so many other factors are important, the findings of Elder(1993b), Woodrow (2006) and Bayliss and Ingram (2006) which suggest IELTS scores can be anindicator of short term performance (Elder, 1993b, pp 78-80), give some weight to the notion thatin shorter teacher education courses, IELTS scores could be higher than in longer courses. This is aquestion of the opportunity which students have on graduation to find employment and the role whichuniversities and teacher education programs have in contributing to that opportunity when acceptingstudents. In Australia, this suggests mandating a range of IELTS ‘7’-‘8’on entry, depending on therelevant state and territory requirements for specific bands, despite Feast’s (2002) findings that thismay lead to high rates of exclusion of those international students on student visas in shorter graduateentry courses.On the other hand, some academics believed that the teacher registration scores are higher than theyneeded to be, arguing that a threshold score such as IELTS ‘6.5’overall, which they felt suggested anability to cope with the academic language demands of the course, was adequate, because the issuesstudents faced within the course (such as on practicum) were problems such as a clash of educationalcultures and were often hidden under a banner of ‘language problems’. For these academics, higherIELTS entry scores would not address the familiarisation and acculturation issues that could only beaddressed in the course itself.One of the Faculties included here had a specific minimum course length requirement for LBOTEstudents (who in this case were on student visas), which was longer for these students than for localstudents or for students with higher IELTS scores. This allowed them to focus on language growth asIELTS Research Reports Volume 11119